The Dream
by DainoChild
Summary: N told Black to go looking for his dream, so Black went after N. But it was N who found Black first and rebuilt their relationship. Post-BW2. Isshushipping.


_An anon on tumblr asked me to write some Isshushipping, and I ended up unleashing my post-BW2 feels._

_This definitely contains BW2 spoilers._

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**The Dream**

Even though Black was the one who spent a year and a half searching, it was N who found him first. N walked casually up to Black in the middle of a Kanto forest and said, "Hello."

Black blinked. "Hi." He reached out, touching N's face. It felt real, so he repeated, "Hi."

"Hello."

N sounded just as awe-struck as Black.

Because it was monsoon season, the rain started to fall heavily out of nowhere. Black swore and pulled N under a tree, but they were still sopping wet. He watched as N wrung out his ponytail and once again said, "Hi."

"Yes, we've exchanged greetings, Black."

"I just can't believe that you're here."

N smiled slightly. "I wanted to find you, so I did."

"I wanted to find you too!" Black cried. "I spent so long looking, but…"

"It wouldn't have been ideal," N replied. Black wondered if he said it with a hint of humour, but didn't know where N would have learnt humour. "I have, however, missed you."

Black threw his arms around N and didn't let go until after the rain had passed. Even then, N had to coax him off with logic about getting to a Pokemon Centre or something to talk properly before the rain started again.

They went and got ice cream, and Black continued to awkwardly repeat the majority of what he said purely because he couldn't believe that N was in front of him, and N had found him.

"It's not vanillish," Black assured N for the fifth time as they sat at a table with their ice creams.

"I know," N muttered. "I did check."

They were silent for a long time. Black deflected the awkward by looking around the Vermillion harbour, pretending to be very interested in the ships.

"How long have you been searching for me?" N asked.

Black shrugged. "Only started a couple of months after you left." He stared at the cone, already starting to melt. "I wasn't sure how long you'd be gone. It didn't really occur to me until then that you meant farewell forever."

"I don't know how long I meant."

Black nodded, only because he didn't know what else to do. "And, when… when do you plan on leave again?"

It was probably best to be direct with N and specify 'leaving me', but Black thought that even making that connection would make their inevitable separation all the more difficult to bear.

N shrugged. Black wasn't sure where or when he'd picked up the motion that would normally be covered by a stream of words. "I don't know how long, but for now, I want to stay with you."

Black blushed. "Okay. Um. That's definitely, fine by me."

"I know," N said with a smile.

Black licked the drops of ice cream falling on his hand up. "Anyway, I've got so much to tell you about the pokemon here…"

As it turned out, N had already been to Kanto, and actually showed Black a number of PokéBalls containing his partners from his travels. All were, as Black had correctly concluded, from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. Something about N just seemed very PokéJapan. He'd probably enjoy anime, if he knew what TV was. But the big thing was seeing the PokéBalls and realising N had changed so much, and Black hadn't been there to see it. And Black had wanted to be. He'd wanted to help N deal with all the strange shit in the world, but N had dealt with it all completely fine on his own.

Still, as much as Black had wanted to see it, he was proud of N. He was also disappointed in himself for expecting N to fall to pieces without him, Black, there to hold him together. He hadn't realised that's what he'd been thinking, but it was. N wasn't weak. He'd been used, he'd been abused, but N was fierce, passionate, self-assured and opinionated, and yet desperately eager to understand the world. How could he have thought N would be anything but fine?

And that made N wanting to find him and travel with him better; N wanted Black. He didn't need him, he didn't need anybody. He just wanted Black.

N showed Black his collection of badges from all over, Black listened to him talking about the Gym Leaders, and rather than just rant and be heard, N asked Black about his own experiences.

"You've really changed," Black observed as they headed to the Pokémon Centre.

"So have you," N replied

Black didn't think he had, but he didn't disagree.

They explored Kanto together, then Johto. Every night they slept in a different place. If it was a Pokémon Centre, they slept in the same bed. That was the extent of their relationship, and sometimes the ambiguity made Black want to scream, but he was happier than he had been since he watched N fly away and thought 'There goes that dream.'

N had explained bitterly about Ghetsis' latest attempt to take over Unova, and the girl who helped foil it and how she reminded N of Black.

"She had a very angry male friend too," N observed.

"Cheren isn't so angry any more," Black insisted.

"And a crazy twin."

White was still crazy, so Black couldn't deny that.

"Do you want to go back?" Black would periodically ask.

"Eventually," N would reply. "And you?"

"Later."

Black still had the weekly round of calls to Mom, White, Cheren and Bianca. Sometimes Alder would call, mostly to offer some vague life advice and hang up. They weren't particularly impressed with him continuing to explore despite having found his dream, as they called it loudly enough for N to hear and smile over, but that was too bad for them. Black wanted to keep travelling, even if he did have brief spells of missing Unovan food, the grass, the air, the cities, the pokémon he'd grown up exposed to… and as autumn came, he thought of the trees in Nuvema being golden orange.

"I have never seen a Ferris wheel here," N observed. "In all of PokéJapan I've seen, I mean."

"Neither," Black replied. "Think it's about time we went on one again?"

"Yes, I think so."

Even if Nimbasa was half a region away, they went back to Nuvema first. N didn't say so, but Black thought he probably wanted to meet Mom, and properly meet White rather than briefly see her and snub her as he'd done in the past.

"Welcome home, my dear baby Hilly," Mom cried when they walked in, enveloping Black in her arms as only a mother can. He sighed irritably but hugged her back tightly. She released him moments later and looked at N. "So, this is the friend you went away to find."

"Boyfriend," N corrected. He looked at Black. "Right?"

"Yeah. That's right."

Smiling, Black held out his hand for N's, and N twined their fingers. It was the first time either of them uttered it, but there was no denying it.

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_Hope you enjoyed it!_


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